


Bits of You on Me

by eafay70



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: 3 + 1 Things, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 03:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19433077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eafay70/pseuds/eafay70
Summary: Three times Jake's soulmate left him injured, and one time Jake was the one to blame.





	Bits of You on Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eichart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eichart/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [eichart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eichart/pseuds/eichart) in the [PuckingRare2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/PuckingRare2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Soulmates AU — They get each other’s injuries (variations thereof welcome)
> 
> Jake plays a physical game; Risto plays a physical game; they both fiercely protect the team. Yeah this ends well...
> 
> Bonus points for pining, obviousness, and working in Risto wearing Jake’s NTDP sweatshirt he stole in 2015.
> 
> * * *
> 
> I hope you like this fic! I greatly enjoyed writing about these boys. :)
> 
> Life stopped being generous with time right around when I started working on this, which is why it's only three things instead of five. If ever I get more time on my hands, I'll write a longer version with things like stubbed toes and papercuts. ;)

**1\. The Bruise**  
Jake had long suspected that his soulmate was a fellow athlete in a contact sport. For most of his life, his body had been littered with marks he couldn't explain through hockey or anything else; thankfully, he'd never gotten a serious injury from his soulmate, nor had he ever given his soulmate a serious injury. It was annoying to have to wait for his soulmate to tend to their cuts and scrapes before his own body could heal, but Jake didn't really mind the reminders that someone out there was waiting to love him forever.

...Or at least he didn't mind until a certain blond Finn stepped foot in the Sabres locker room and took Jake's breath away with a simple smile.

Jake knew what it felt like when he got a crush on someone. This was stronger than that, which made sense since he'd spent quite a bit of time watching the kid's highlights on the ice. Who wouldn't feel something stronger than a crush for someone that talented?

Jake didn't get a chance to talk to the kid, whom everyone was already calling Risto, but he winced along with the others when Risto hit the boards a little too hard to be comfortable. Nobody said anything, but everyone was clearly thinking the same thing: Please don't let this be an omen of this season...

Risto got up and continued with practice looking perfectly fine. Jake didn't think about it any further until he got home, went to change into his beloved NTDP sweatshirt, and saw a bruise on his side. 

"That's where Risto got hit," he whispered to himself. A grin spread across his face: His soulmate wasn't just a contact sport athlete - his soulmate was a hockey player!

* * *

 **2\. Getting the Wind Knocked Out of One's Lungs**  
It was late spring. Despite everyone's best efforts, the Sabres hadn't made the playoffs, which meant it was time for Jake to rock the red, white, and blue at Worlds! Boo-yah!

...Well, no, not boo-yah. Not anything worthy of exclamation points, really. But hockey was hockey, and it was always fun to play with his old friends from the NTDP. So Jake allowed himself a sad sigh, then headed off to Europe.

Jake had a good idea of which Sabres were playing for which countries, but he didn't bother trying to keep track of any of their schedules. However, he did have a vague idea of when other countries were playing their games. So when he found himself randomly struggling for air during a rather easy drill at practice, it only took him a few seconds to realize why: His soulmate was probably playing at this tournament!

That night, Jake went into the bathroom in his hotel room, took out his phone, and looked up which teams had been playing. When he saw Finland listed, his heart clenched a little: Could his soulmate be one of Risto's current teammates?

Jake and Risto had become fairly good friends during the season. Maybe part of it was Jake's cooking, but that was nowhere near good enough to justify why Risto had come out to him in a barely audible whisper one night. Naturally, Jake had hugged Risto and whispered, "So am I," but they'd never talked about it again.

More to the point, Jake's crush had never gone away. In fact, it kept getting stronger, to the point where it was something bigger than a crush, not that he had a good word for it. All he knew was that his soulmate might be a Finnish hockey player, and it made his heart do funny things.

* * *

 **3\. The Busted Hand**  
Jake woke up close to tears. It took him a few seconds to realize why: His hand was in searing pain.

It didn't make sense. Sure, he'd bonked his wrist against the locker that morning, but it wasn't enough to explain this sudden pain. And, now that he thought about it, that had been his other hand! Risto had been the one to hurt this hand.

This made Jake hiss beyond the pain. At this point, he was close to in love with Risto, who never seemed to have anyone else's injuries. Of course, he was such a physical player that he tended to have lots of bruises and stuff anyway, but that wasn't the point. The point was, Jake's soulmate was a Finnish hockey player with an injured hand, just like Risto, but obviously not Risto, even though Jake really wanted it to be Risto.

The pain began to subside. "Definitely not Risto," Jake sighed. "He's way too stubborn to take more pain meds just to sleep."

* * *

 **+1. The Very Stupid Burn**  
Jake had been regularly cooking for himself and others for years. Heck, he'd made this particular lasagna at least a dozen times in the past month! So he had absolutely no excuse for having tried to take it out of the oven with his bare hands.

Within seconds of Jake sticking his hands under cold water, the doorbell rang. Jake groaned - of course this had to happen the night Risto was coming over to play Chel. Much as Jake wanted to blame his moment of idiocy on the stupidly cute and unfairly charming Finn, Jake knew full well that he'd successfully made this lasagna for Risto plenty of times in the past, so he had nobody to blame but himself.

The knocking resumed. Jake hurried to the door and opened it after more tries than he wanted to admit. "Sorry," he said once Risto was visible. "Burned my hands in the oven."

Risto blinked, then pushed his way past Jake, who closed the door in confusion. With a shuddering breath, Risto held out his hands. They were burned.

"No way..." Jake held out his own hands, which matched Risto's perfectly.

"I wanted it to be you," Risto confessed. "All those random bruises, all the aches and pains after a game..."

Jake couldn't believe his eyes or his ears. "You wanted it to be me?"

"I think I started falling in love with you the day we met," Risto said softly. There was a hint of fear in his voice. "But I couldn't be sure. After I stole this and you didn't say anything, I figured you weren't interested or something."

Only then did Jake recognize what Risto was wearing: "My NTDP sweatshirt! I asked you if you'd seen it!"

"I lied." Risto was now blushing. "I like pretending I'm yours."

Jake blinked. "Well, you can stop pretending if you want."

Risto's response was a kiss. Jake gripped the sweatshirt as he leaned into the kiss, grateful for his moment of idiocy.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is greatly appreciated!


End file.
